If there is a new KI, how mechanically would you like it to change?

How would you like to see KI change mechanically?

For me…

Ranged autos and manuals, as well as air autos would be a cool addition.

I would also like to see an Aggressor meter. The meter favors offense and fills be completing combos. The longer the combo the faster the meter fills. Once full the character gets access to enhanced versions of their normal special moves and shadows. Using said moves depletes the meter.

I like this concept because it encourages players to fight to gain access to these more powerful attacks.

Using Glacius as an example. When Aggressor is active, his hail could have flash freeze properties, of which causes the opponent to be frozen in place for a second.

Just something to throw out there.

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Good question… I dont think I have an answer to this. I hate to say I wouldnt want anything to change, but I guess i leave that up to the Devs that do this for a living. But your idea is cool!
Omen could have a Rashakuken that grabs the opponent with a ring of electricity. Kind of like in MKX or Injustice.

Thats the problem - I would not change a thing. Make dedicated animations to auto doubles, maybe add super moves, idk.

I agree, the core mechanics are flawless with the exception of a few bad animations.

What I think should happen is enhancements such as areal autos, ranged manuals (for Glay), and maybe a power meter of sorts like the Aggressor Meter, V-Trigger, and such.

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I would leave core gameplay intact. In sequel I’d just add some fluff like improved animations, super moves, new characters, some old characters redesigned, and AAA treatment with improved visuals and story mode.

I really feel like KI2013 set foundations for really good series and could take Tekken route with not fixing what’s not broken.

Unless, they plan some revolution for sequel like 3D combat or something.

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Depending on how it’s done, an aggressor meter could be actually be an interesting counterweight to instinct (comeback) meter. Especially if it plays into riskier combos like you’re saying.

I kinda disagree on this Agressor system. If I understand this correctly, it would give characters four versions of their specials: special, agressor special, shadow, aggresor shadow?

IDK, I would not give this to all cast. Maybe leave it as a trait to one character. Giving too much universal mechanics makes roster homogenized.

I imagine it as something closer to instinct meter than shadow meter. I agree that stacking it over the EX system already in place would be redundant.

We need to take on thing to account - “shadow” moves theme was connected to story with Shadow Lords, etc.

It will propably get renamed/redesigned for sequel.

EX meter was called shadow meter long before any lore or Shadow Lords were on the table. Shadow energy is also a major thing in the lore now too and it’s probably going to stay that way.

Regardless I’m just saying that I agree an aggressor meter shouldn’t play like a standard EX mechanic.

I got an idea for a fun mechanic.

Almost every KI character wields a weapon right? How about making some kind of a clash system, when two weapon based attacks/normals meet at their hitbox range, both characters would get into close quarters clash similar to Samurai Shodown, and depending on how good you do in this clash (I dont know if this would be button mash contest or some QTE timing stuff), you could maneuver and switch sides with opponent, and push him away when you are in good spot.

There would not be damage taken, it would be kind of a breather and relocation moment in a match.

What do you think?

EDIT: I got it! There would be QTE-like button prompt in the middle of screen and whoever presses it first gains control for few seconds - he could move or switch sides to his advantage.

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Sort of like the Wager prompt in Injustice 2?

Similar, but simpler. Players would not wager their meter, it would be a reflex contest where prize would be convenient positioning.

https://youtu.be/oQCop8MQiIs?t=50s instead of mashing buttons, there would be a prompt in middle of screen under fighters, whoever presses first, gains ability to move slightly or switch side.

There would be 3 button prompts. Whoever presses the third one, pushes opponent away, back to neutral.

If cornered player presses third prompt, he pushes opponent away and has easier time getting out of corner. If advantageus player wins clash, he pushes enemy but has him at grab range at 0 frames, vulnerable to mixups.

What if instead of another meter, characters just had segmented shadow meters, like how Fulgore’s looks (just with one color), and EX’d versions of their moves costs like a pip or two depending on how powerful they are or something along those lines?

I like the idea of rewarding aggressive play, I’m just not sure I want to see another meter on the screen since we already have health, instinct and shadow plus some characters that have their own unique meters.

I will say though that another idea that could go along with this would not just be EXing (or surging ala Shadow Jago) special moves, but maybe for enders as well? Maybe surging an ender even changes the property of what it does? Maybe throws could even be surged?


I also saw super moves mentioned and while that could be a VERY cool idea, I almost don’t want something that could drain too much health too quickly given how combo-centric this game is and how much damage a single combo can already do for most characters.

So if there were a super move, I’d almost want to be a really special case scenario, like maybe it’s an ender that can be done only once you’ve done all of your other enders. It’d definitely need a unique graphic, some special effects and camera work… I’d look at the current crop of Ultimates for inspiration.


As for stuff I’d like to see from a mechanical standpoint, in addition to what I said above, I’d also like to see them do away with flipouts and staggers. They’re not bad mechanics, but I’d kinda like to see them come up with some different ideas that might a somewhat unique spice to many of the characters and kinda help drive home the fact that while it’s a sequel, it’s not going to play identically to the last one; there are new ideas at play here too.

What to replace them with? I honestly have no idea. I love the idea of air autos as was suggested, though probably not for everyone (which is fine since not every character has a flipout and/or a stagger).

I’d also love to see multiple instinct modes for every character, and players can choose one prior to the match. Or, if we don’t want to make it too Street Fighter-y… They can break the instinct meter in to two halves. You can pop instinct and use one instinct after the first half is full for one type of move, or wait until it’s full for a different instinct. I could see them having a field day with creating advantages for each instinct so a player would really have to weigh if they want to pop it at the half way point or wait.

I honestly think that would be enough for a familiar, but unique KI experience:

Remove flipout mechanic
Remove stagger mechanic
Add air autos for some characters
Two instincts for all character, a half instinct and a full instinct
Segment shadow meter for surging special moves, enders and throws
Add a level 5 “super” ender for every character

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Super move would cost whole EX bar. Easy ~30% damage traded for no shadow linkers, no big-but-breakable damage.

Also your idea with secret ender would be cool. But it would have to ignore ender’s damage level. Instead opponent would be dead before we’d get that super move.

EDIT: Let’s make that challenging. Maybe 5th ender unlocks ONLY when you have done enders with all 4 damage levels in the match? :smiley:

One thing we can add to the game is delayed wakeup, probably by holding down while knocked down, to be able to throw off some meaties or setups.

Personally I feel that staggers and flipouts should still exist in the game but that’s just me.

An interesting concept would be some sort of air fighter (maybe a grappler that like to bring you into the air) and introduce the concept of air combos. Simply put, it’s just a combo performed in the air. Just something to bring variety to some of the cast along with traditional air juggles.

Regarding shadow, I feel like it should remain in the simple state that it is for most characters, we shouldn’t make it too complex when it doesn’t have to be. Give those crazy meter ideas to specific characters. Still keep the standard meter, maybe add one more bar if you make shadow moves weaker.

Also…I kinda disagree with adding some sort of super move. It would remove some insentive to use regular bars of meter. And if they still have things like battery ender, I feel that the meta would be battery ender after battery ender into super, rinse and repeat. Not a good idea in my opinion

We can also add crumple as a feature but I don’t really see how much that would add to combat

I think the mechanics should remain more or less unchanged. The game has a really nice sweet spot where it’s easy to learn but hard to master. Plus it just feels really nice. So I’d hope it’s pretty similar in a sequel.

What I think SHOULD be switched up is the characters. While they should retain most of what makes them fun to play, I’d like to see them be changed enough that they don’t seem like they’re copy-pasted from this one. Enough to significantly switch up the balance of who’s where in the tier list.

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What do you mean by this?

Agree, it should definitely require a whole EX bar / shadow meter. That makes perfect sense. Definitely agree that it would have to ignore the ender level, as getting to level 4 is hard enough so maybe don’t make that a requirement.

But yeah, glad you put that edit in there, as I think it’d MUCH better to have the 5th ender by doing an ender on each level first. That way you’re not requiring a level 4 ender for EVERY ender first and you’re not letting people off too easy by allowing them to do level one or two enders for each. Doing any ender with each of the four damage levels would be a great way to build up the 5th super ender.

Hope I read what you were saying right on all of those. If I misinterpreted anything, then my bad. From what I did read though, I definitely think you have the right of it.

Oh ■■■■, that’s a great idea! I just wonder though if that’d kinda negate some of the utility of a hard knockdown ender and render it… Not useless… But maybe not nearly as valuable as it is currently? What do you think?

Yeah I don’t have anything against them at all. I kinda like them. I just figured if they’re going to do a sequel, you could probably change the gameplay a little bit, and these were sort of smaller mechanical additions. I’d still want to keep recapture, but I hear where you’re coming from.

I could certainly see a scenario where Sadira’s maybe able to lock her opponent in a web and do an actual air combo on them, perhaps falling slightly, but perhaps able to bounce off a web wall with a kick as a linker and then continue the combo. I’ve wanted her to have air autos for a while.

I could see another character or two having something similar, but I kinda feel like full air combos should be special; like only for a certain character or two where it makes sense to have it.

I dunno, I don’t think that changing the full meter to a bar of pips would make anything much more complex. I think people that have played Mortal Kombat X know what EX’d special moves are and people that have played KI know what shadow moves are. I don’t think that combining the ideas would really confound people, but that’s just me. If you’re not into the idea, no problem.

Yeah that’s why I don’t like the idea of just a straight super move. I’d personally want it to be like how the hidden ender was in OG Killer Instinct where you had to do the other enders first before you could use it. @VerminatorX had a good suggestion of requiring a player to do an ender with each of the four damage levels before you get access to the super ender. I think that’d be perfect.

I certainly wouldn’t mind if it was largely unchanged. I just think that tweaking a few things here and there, taking out a smaller idea or two and adding in a smaller idea or two would be enough to make things feel slightly different, but not so much that you’re going from like Tekken 3 to Tekken 4 or Mortal Kombat 3 to Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance (or MK4, I suppose).

I agree that the characters should be changed up a bit, like how characters are rebalanced prior to a new season, but perhaps to a slightly greater extent. I’d also want most of them to have updated looks either due to lore reasons or simply because they can. It’s still a sequel, so it’d be nice if everything could have an aura of freshness to it, even if there’s still a substantial core in place for everything that doesn’t (and largely shouldn’t) change.

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mechanical changes?
tough …
maybe add a 3rd shadowbar + hypermoves (that uses all 3 bars)
allow more possibilities with instinct, like maybe tie hypermoves to that instead, so you have a choice between a dmging use of instinct (like shago demon) or a tactical use like we have it now
allow guardbreak or parry for using instinctmeter

other than that there isn´t anything i would realy change … merely stuff that i would add